Getty Image
While Team USA and Australia are stealing the headlines in the pool, one other major story has loomed large over 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Several Chinese swimmers reportedly tested positive for doping prior to the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, but both WADA and Chinese officials swept the results under the rug.
Now it appears that two more Chinese swimmers have been implicated in the scandal, including one that is currently competing in Paris.
Two More Chinese Swimmers Implicated In Olympic Doping Scandal
The New York Times reports that a pair of Chinese athletes tested positive for “a powerful anabolic steroid” in 2022. But they claimed, as previous Chinese athletes did, that the positive result was due to eating a tainted burger.
One of the swimmers, Tang Muhan, was a member of a gold-medal winning and world record freestyle relay in Tokyo. She is also a member of the 2024 Olympic team and could be a part of the 4×200 meter relay team, which is looking for a second straight gold medal on Thursday.
Chinese star Zhang Yufei, a two-time gold medalist in Tokyo, says she and her countrymen are innocent.
“I don’t think any athlete, Chinese or non-Chinese, would want to destroy the work they built up every day over the years on doping,” she claimed.
Yufei also won two silver medals in Tokyo. She also won a pair of bronze medals (so far) in Paris in the 100-meter butterfly and 4×100 freestyle relay.
Team USA stars Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel, however, doubt that the current Olympic games are clean.
“No, not really. I don’t think they have given us enough evidence to support how this case was handled,’ Dressel said when asked if he trusts the integrity of the competition.
Ledecky was less accusatory. But she, too, had her doubts about the fairness of the competition.